China said on Friday that it intends to restrict or prohibit the export of 40 technologies spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductors and solar power, as its technological rivalry with countries including the United States escalates.

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology have jointly released a draft document setting forth proposed revisions to China's catalogue of technologies subject to export bans or restrictions.

A spokesperson for the commerce ministry, in a statement, characterized the move as “necessary,” citing national security among the grounds for it.

The proposal emerged as China and the U.S. made headway in dialogues concerning AI safety and governance, and regarding the establishment of a notification mechanism between the two superpowers for AI incidents that could imperil national security.

Friday’s list, as disclosed by the Chinese ministries, encompasses twenty-three AI technologies, spanning the gamut from advanced large models to agents.

Over the past several years, U.S.-led restrictions have curtailed the export of certain advanced technologies to China, with the country barred from accessing the world’s most cutting-edge AI chips as well as the sophisticated chipmaking machinery required to produce them.

Under the Chinese proposal, exports of the core technologies underpinning AI large models trained on sensitive national data would be prohibited, as would AI agents designed for deployment in highly sensitive environments such as national defense and critical information infrastructure.

“The Chinese government is implementing such necessary measures with the aims of reinforcing the security bottom line, preventing misuse and abuse, and ensuring that AI remains under human control,” the commerce ministry’s statement said.

Meanwhile, exports of AI models boasting parameter counts of 2 trillion or above, or possessing certain world-leading capabilities, could be subject to restriction.

An AI model’s parameter count constitutes a key metric reflective of its learning capacity.

Among the models whose parameter counts exceed 2 trillion are Chinese AI systems such as Moonshot’s Kimi K3 and Alibaba’s Qwen 3.8-Max, yet Friday’s proposal did not identify any specific models by name.

Several chip design technologies—among them certain AI processing chips and memory chips—are likewise encompassed by the proposed export restrictions.

Twelve solar power-related technologies are also encompassed, among them those pertaining to the manufacture of polysilicon, a core raw material for the solar supply chain, as well as five biomedicine technologies, including those pertaining to cell and gene therapy.

The move “can be seen as a response to Western countries posting sovereignty requirements on AI, robotics, telecommunications, and other key technologies,” said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at technology research and advisory group Omdia.

The aim, he believes, would be all the more effectively to regulate access to the Chinese technologies.

In June, the U.S. Commerce Department had requested that Anthropic prohibit foreign nationals from accessing two of its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns.

The restrictions were subsequently rescinded.

AI is becoming ever more strategically consequential for both China and the U.S., Gary Ng, a senior economist at the French bank Natixis, added.

“The world is growing increasingly fragmented in trade and investment, but likewise in access to technologies,” Ng said.